Dear residents, this is my final column as the eThekwini Mayor. This follows the announcement by the African National Congress of my redeployment to the National Council of Provinces. I want to take this opportunity to thank the ANC for the confidence it has shown in me and for the support it has provided during my time as the Mayor of this Municipality.

I also want to convey my profound gratitude to the Troika, the Executive Committee, and all councillors of eThekwini. More importantly, I want to thank the people of eThekwini for working with us in steering the City in the right direction. The collaboration we have forged with business, labour, interfaith, amakhosi, academia and civil society has contributed immensely to rebuilding our City following a string of catastrophic events. You will recall that shortly after I was deployed to the Municipality in 2019, we were faced with severe floods which destroyed the City’s infrastructure. Early in 2020, the world was faced with the COVID-19 pandemic which threatened both our lives and livelihoods. Because of the strong partnership we formed with social partners, we were able to develop an impactful Economic Recovery Plan which has become our blueprint to respond to disasters.

Subsequently, we came together to formulate a response to the July civil unrest and the recurring floods. Currently the City is using the same model to adequately respond to the plight of people who were affected by the recent storm in areas such as oThongathi, Mgababa, Ilovu, Dassenhoek and many other areas. The work of rebuilding the City’s infrastructure is ongoing and I want to assure the residents of eThekwini that this work is on track. We recently visited various water and sanitation construction projects and we are pleased with the progress our teams are making on the ground. One of the key tasks the ANC gave us in 2019 was to stabilise the Municipality, strengthen governance, and improve service delivery. Notwithstanding all the challenges, we are proud that eThekwini is stable both politically and administratively.

We continue to obtain an unqualified audit opinion from the Auditor-General with a few matters raised. The City remains one of the few municipalities in the country that does not owe Eskom. Our account for bulk water services from  MgeniuThukela Water is up to date. Once again, let me take this opportunity to thank the people of eThekwini, the ANC, Deputy Mayor, Speaker, Whip of Council, Councillors, the administration led by the eThekwini City Manager and all our stakeholders for working with us in our effort to make eThekwini the most caring and liveable City. I also want to thank the media for always holding us accountable to the public. I wish my successor all the best. 

I thank you.